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Commenting On Athletes’ Facebook Walls – SPORTS AGENT BLOG
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Commenting On Athletes’ Facebook Walls

I am a week late on this story, but here is an interesting find about a sports agent posting a comment on a college football player’s wall who still has a year of eligibility left.  Chris Camper wrote on Antonio Brown‘s wall saying, “Next big step… Junior Pro Day, the official start to your path to the draft.”  The article states that Camper works for Oracle Sports Management L.L.C.  In fact, according to Camper’s LinkedIn page, he is the Owner & Chief Negotiator of the company.  I could not find an actual website for Oracle.

The article goes on to say,

For those of you wondering if its ethical for agents to be talking to players before their season is finished — it’s perfectly legal and just part of the game. The NCAA has no problem with sports agents using social networking tools.

While it is true that the NCAA has no problem with Camper’s action, it is important to remember that the NCAA is not the only body that regulates the sports agent profession.  Agents need also be concerned with state and federal statutes.  Importantly, states that have signed onto the UAAA prohibit an agent from initiating contact with a student-athlete unless registered with those states.  Interestingly, Michigan is 1 of 3 states that have existing, non-UAAA laws designed to regulate athlete agents.

So Camper should be fine, but had he or another agent written the same message on an athlete’s wall in another state bound by the UAAA (or a variation thereof), a picky regulating body could take action against that agent.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

3 replies on “Commenting On Athletes’ Facebook Walls”

Good point, although I think to be more precise, what would happen is that a rival agent would report the violator to the state’s regulating body. The states are too cash-strapped to do proactive enforcement, as far as I can tell.

Student athlete and agent relationships need to be totally reworked by the NCAA. Whatever it is that they’re currently trying to do just isn’t effective at all.

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